Subafreak Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 That is some serious preperation! This should be a fun adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 On standby for location Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 All set to commence the first ever northeast 4WD compact car event on Sunday morning. The meet details have been sent to all who have signed up. Glad I didn't wash my car, it's supposed to be 50 degrees and the ground might be a little moist. Looking forward to meeting you guys. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Looking like Rt.8 to Mass. Pike - FYI Jesse and whoever cares. About 2:45 for my ride. A lot like when we hit NJ. Probably take the taconic on the way back for kicks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Ughh, we got a little snow here overnight guys.... No I'm only kidding. We got a dusting and it will be gone in tomorrow's warm temps. This pic was from December 27th 2010. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) Yeah , my son was watching the weather for your meeting location and got all excited. I could see it'll be slick but not white tomorrow. Probably going to be less prepared than I'd like but then again having a Subaru I'm actually well prepared. I do have very recent tires. Could not find walkie talkies. Do have a tow strap. Jinxing myself but it usually pulls out other people's cars. Lol Have tools too! That's the insurance. Jesse, we will probably be linking up to the Mass. Pike around 9:00-9:30 going straight up route 8. West Becket should be the town. Give me a call around 9 and let me know your location. Edited December 1, 2012 by moosens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Made it home safe. Best I can tell nothing fell off the car!!! Thanks again , Mike !!!! Too tired , Pics soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I cut Jesse out !!! Sin !! Here I cut 'em all out. LOL Well almost ... Very cool time!! Have to clean the old dog off today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Paul it was great meeting you, Luke, and Jesse. We appreciate you guys making the drive to join us for this unique event! The two local SX4's did not show up, so it was all old school compact 4WD's on the roster. Paul easily took the honors for the most historic entry with his '78 wagon. He also took the honors for the lowest exhaust system . You west coast people viewing this have to remember that seeing one of these in the snowy salt belt of the northeast is quite a rarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 After meeting up in West Sand Lake, NY we headed straight for the hill climb portion of the event. Pictures sometimes don't show how steep the angle of the climb was but hopefully this will give you an idea. Mark's '91 Civic Real Time 4wd wagon powers up the hill. Jesse was next in his clean '85 Brat. Next we headed out into the woods. Just before the lunch break I placed my meatball sub on my valve cover to warm it up. Worked out nicely. A good time was had by all and by the end of the day our last trail was near the MA border. More pics will be added later as I get them from my friend Jeff and Mark in the Civic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 I'd like to share some responses that I've received from friends after seeing this event report: Way cool Mike, The ElPaso Gas Company pipeline ran through my home town in Eastford, CT. We had miles and miles of abandonded roads in the state forest and the Yale Forest, but those were roads. As soon as we got our license, our favorite activity was to see how far we could go with our road cars into the pipeline before we got stuck and had to walk out. An older kid had a 1943 Dodge Staff Car and we would walk to phone and tell him where we were. There is really no reason to grow up! Sure looks like you had fun. Bill Here's another from a Tercel 4WD forum member: Wow, I've never seen a 4wd Subaru wagon that old! Being a child of the 80's with all the hard lines and angles that came with them, I'm not into the styling of that Subaru but it is definitely cool to see one so old alive and kicking. The Brat is quite cool, is it lifted? Very inspiring, thanks for the pics! My favorite is the sandwich on the engine. My wife was grossed out but I loved it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Manifold vs microwave. Yeah , that's us ..... Thanks for posting that Mike!!! These past few years people have actually come to appreciate the old '78 more. I think an old schooler like mine could do better with some lift blocks and well tucked exhaust. Lots of people hate to see me "abusing" this old car but its exercise and I enjoy maximizining its efforts. Hence the Compact 4WD Group ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kybishop Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 (edited) I just saw this today. Are you guys going to do this again or is it possible it will become an annual event? I would enjoy seeing the different makes of these compact 4x4's. I know here in town we have a couple of old Tercels running around. Not too many old Subaru's but I have seen a few. This is the first I have seen of the Sentra 4x4 wagon. Didn't know they made that. Edited December 3, 2012 by kybishop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_bard Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I missed this one; local shop says that noise is coming from my transmission; best guess is one of the input shaft bearings, so I'm glad I wasn't abusing it further on the trails. I do want to catch the next one... I'll keep an eye out on these forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 I just saw this today. Are you guys going to do this again or is it possible it will become an annual event? I will play it by ear and if enough people want to have another go I would do it again. Most of the roads we were on are not plowed in the winter. So going back out on the smoother routes after a fresh snow is very appealing to me. I would enjoy seeing the different makes of these compact 4x4's. Me too! This event was announced on forums of every 4WD compact car model I could think of, including Tercel4WD.com, Club Justy, Club Protege, Club SX4, Civic Wagon, All-Trac Wagon, etc. This is the first I have seen of the Sentra 4x4 wagon. Didn't know they made that. Cool aren't they? There's a build thread on my turbo system here. To keep the project under budget, I designed my own fuel enrichment system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 I missed this one; local shop says that noise is coming from my transmission; best guess is one of the input shaft bearings, so I'm glad I wasn't abusing it further on the trails. I do want to catch the next one... I'll keep an eye out on these forums. Sorry to hear about your manual trans bearings bard. I prefer standard myself, but am learning that in some situations, an automatic is actually a good idea for this kind of stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subafreak Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It was a great run. It was nice to see a change of scenery and check out some new trails. Those power lines were calling my name all day though! Lol. It was so entertaining watching these odd old rigs bouncing through the woods. It was probably cool to watch them tearing down the dirt roads rally style but Mike and Mark were way outta sight on those sections...........now I know why. What is that thing running for an engine Mike, an SR20 with a turbo? I will say I thought I was gonna hate the auto off- road but it was pretty nice and effort free. Not much fun in the dirt er mud but great for climbing hills and over rocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 It was a great run. It was nice to see a change of scenery and check out some new trails. Those power lines were calling my name all day though! Lol. Yes I need to find more of those climbing hills like we started out on. That was fun. Someone asked if your Brat ride height is stock, or if it is raised a bit?It was probably cool to watch them tearing down the dirt roads rally style but Mike and Mark were way outta sight on those sections...........now I know why. What is that thing running for an engine Mike, an SR20 with a turbo? Those slick smooth roads were calling us. Mark and I race on frozen lakes each winter with a group called A.M.E.C.. A two liter SR20 would have been awesome, but it was too much work to try to swap in. I had a low mile 1.6 liter twin cam engine from a rolled over '93 Sentra [110 h.p] I installed. I added a small T20 turbo a few years later. It goes pretty good though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subafreak Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Oh my Brat is stock. I had the rear torsion bars cranked about halfway up but the front spring perches were all the way down. It helped that my exhaust it tucked up pretty high. Yeah the slick roads would have more fun if I didn't have the auto and it didn't handle like a bucket of chum on the open sea! I would have thought the SR20 shared the same bellhousing and motor mounts as the 1.6L. Or do you mean the wireing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_bard Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Sorry to hear about your manual trans bearings bard. I prefer standard myself, but am learning that in some situations, an automatic is actually a good idea for this kind of stuff. Yeah, that torque converter can come in handy. I really wish money was no object; if I won the lottery, I'd buy a container load of those dual range transmissions from the Aussie's and have 'em shipped over for the board. I'm just more comfortable with my understanding of how a manual transmission works, at a basic level. Yeah, I understand basic planetary gear systems too, but elevate the complexity to a modern automatic transmission, and I may as well be waving incense and sprinkling holy water. Looks like I'll have a solution set up by early January; if y'all do another run, hopefully it'll be after that. Maybe we'll have snow by then, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Yeah the slick roads would have more fun if I didn't have the auto and it didn't handle like a bucket of chum on the open sea! That is too funny! I would have thought the SR20 shared the same bellhousing and motor mounts as the 1.6L. Or do you mean the wireing?No the bell housing is completely different as well as all of the motor mount locations, and it uses a hydraulic clutch release system where mine uses a clutch cable. The wiring is time consuming either way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 After you guys left, I started on my way home, but then turned around because I realized that I needed to check out an additional trail in the area that I had a lead on. It wasn't dark yet and my car was already dirty so.... It turned out to be very narrow and steep. Those are not bad things, but I only got about .7 miles then it got seriously rough and you'd have needed a Jeep to continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subafreak Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Hmmm. Seems like the wiring would be the easiest part. I guess the only other option is to find a gti-r for a full swap. I'm sure it would still require some fabricating but your car is mostly set up to accept it. There is one in my area that seems to have changed hands 5 times since I've known about it. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Here are a few more pics from my friend Jeff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Kamm Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Here's two more. Jeff used a setting on his camera called "minature effect". I'll be darned if it doesn't make the cars look like Matchbox cars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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